Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Getting stuff scanned over the past year or so in before this year ends: Milton Blewitt, Bunny Jeboult, Loch Madill and Ray Ordano winning races at Hatzic Lake and Gary Beck winning a race at Mission Raceway over local Pete Reimer.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Yes, Yes, Merry Christmas. Enjoy it. From the Golden Wheels midget CD of photos. Ernie Spalding was a Canadian by birth. Lived and raced out of the U.S. Came to Canada to race midgets on the lower mainland and big cars in Victoria before and after the Second World War.

Just to prove that here's a Victoria clipping from 1949. Oh yeah, his son was Cliff Spalding who won a few USAC midget races over the years. And Ernie's brother was Jack Spalding who raced midgets in Vancouver and big cars in Victoria.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Chilliwack report three for 1955. Power boat racing. Some interesting names in Jim Hutchison as he is in the BC Sports Hall of Fame and a Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneer. Bob Henry must be the same Bob Henry that raced midgets at Digney Speedway and further south into Seattle. And, if he is the same person, the guy who started Van-Kam Trucks.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

And now for something completely different: air races. A relay race held at the Chilliwack airport by a local flying club as part of a show. Probably not the first race like this held in B.C. but they were never well advertised, or part of another show as this one was.

Art Maynard, Long Beach, Calif., won the Limited Class hydroplane race yesterday afernoon while he was unconscious from the waters of Lake Washington by another racing driver who sacrificed his own chances of winning to make the rescue. Eddie Meyer, Hollywood,Calif. driver of the Avenger IV, was the hero who rescued Maynard. Maynard was not seriously hurt, but was taken by ambulance to a hospital for a checkup. He was thrown into the lake when his speeding boat, the Dollar Bill, event out of control and flipped over. Meyer held him up until a Coast Guard patrol boat pulled him out Maynard torn to shreds in the crash. Maynard won the Seattle Seafair Trophy on the basis of his victory in the first of the two heats. He had tied with Charles Kobus, Vancouver, B. C., at 400 points for a heat victory apiece, but his speed of 83 miles an hour bettered Kobus' second heat-winning time of about 75 miles per hour for the 7 miles. Maynard was going at high speed near the front of the field, when his craft's prow apparently lifted too high off the water and wavered to disaster. The Dollar Bill was wrecked.John D. Beverly of Spokane Seed third in his Lettuce Go with 320 points.

Although Boat Exploded Maynard Won Seafair Race

Despite an explosion which destroyed his speedboat, Art Maynard of Hollywood, Calif., won the Seafair Trophy limited- class race yesterday on the Gold Cup course. Maynard' s 266-cubic-inch speedboat $ Bill won the first heat of the limited-class free-for-all and earned 400 points. In the first turn of the second heat, $ Bill exploded, tossing Maynard into the water. Charles Kobus piloted his Mercury VII to victory in that second heat, also earning 400 points. Maynard was awardedthe $4,000 Trophy, originally offered for Gold Cup class boats, by virtue of his faster time. Maynard's time for the first heat was 5 minutes 27.19 seconds. Kobus did 6:03.21 in the second heat.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Something put up recently after Herb McNutt's passing. Many photos of the old Arlington drag strip as well as a nostalgia rail he worked on. Some cackling. Looks like plenty of smiles and laughs with friends like Jack Williams and others.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Herb McNutt, track manager at the Arlington (WA) drag strip, recently passed away. It was the track in the northwest for a while. At least, the one that B.C. guys (and girls) would head to if they couldn't get further south.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Harry Roberts emailed a couple notes to me yesterday. They can be found in the comments here. Points out a spelling mistake the newspapers of the day made and I continued to make.

So I'm trying to make corrections and apologies here. Working with what I've got to the best of my ability. (Of course, that might only make me dead last in the consi.)

So changes made here and here to correct the name. And a couple photos of Harry and his early-late from 1967 from the BCTRA yearbook. I know I've seen photos the modified he drove a few years later at the Langley Speedway Historical Society displays but can't seem to find a photo of it in my files.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Stuff I scanned for some presentation material but haven't put up here yet. And if I wait for the chronological look at Langley (which I haven't forgot about) for these things to get plugged in, well we're in for a long wait!